Key Theory Web Design

Search Engine Optimization isn’t as fun and hip as Social Media or nearly as sleek and sexy as Graphic Design but it still does play a vital role in on-line traffic and should be addressed in efforts to increase web traffic. Below are the three basic things that I suggest one should focus on with SEO. There are plenty of other factors… more than worth counting but these are keystones in the framework.

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A search engines goal is to provide the best resources pertaining to the searchers search.

Good Practices for Creating Content for SEO:

• Be original / Not Plagiarized
• Write for your targeted consumers
• Format for web w/subheadings & bulleted lists (easier to scan)
• Be informative, useful, helpful
• Be interesting and Engaging
• Check spelling and grammer
• Update content regularly

Inbound Links:

Getting in-bound links from reputable web sites helps give your site more credibility. Some methods include:

• High ranked web sites
• Web site directories
• Social Media sites such as Digg or Delicious
• Creating links to your site in Blog posts
• Trade links with other web sites
• Pay for professional assistance getting links

Important: Use keywords in the links back to your site.

• Bad: To learn more about our product click here. >> Home Page
• Better: Learn more about T Mobile G1 >> G1 Product Page

Proper Web Site Development:

It is crucial that your web site is developed with SEO in mind. Not all web designers have the experience to develop the site for SEO. Possible things to consider:

• XHTML / CSS – (Validated)
• Naming Convention: file names, directories, pictures, files
• Proper Site Architecture
• Proper content formatting
• Flash & Javascript work arounds
• Meta Tags: Titles, descriptions, (key words)
• Proper link development
• Sitemap

Other SEO Considerations:

SEO takes time & continuous effort in order to achieve good results especially for competitive key words.

Social Media is a great way to assist with your SEO efforts but before jumping into SEO and Social Media really should do homework and define a strategy with solid objectives to achieve.

There are many other factors involved in SEO then mentioned in this slide show but these are some core principals.

If you’re new to SEO and aren’t sure how to get started consult a professional and to learn more on what you can do to help out your own efforts.

Another thing to consider is having your site looked at for usability and performance. If your site gets a good rank but doesn’t produce results then you may need to change things on your site to make it more effective.

SEO Resources

http://tools.seobook.com
http://www.seomoz.org/tools
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
http://www.google.com/sktool
http://websitegrader.com
http://www.siteopsys.com
http://www.google.com/analytics

If you’re looking to meet with others interested in SEO, try joining a group like Jax SEO Meetup. A MeetUp group in Jacksonville that gets together once a month to talk about SEO techniques and information. You can also check out Jax SEO Works tips on improving your SEO ranking.

Next SEO post I’ll be going over my Top 10 SEO objectives in a new web site development.

Using white hat SEO techniques over black hat SEO techniques.

So what is the difference and why should you care?

When I started doing SEO I had a pretty good idea of what I needed to do, however I wasn’t sure what was white hat vs black hat. I think most SEOs (search engine optimizers) may have accidentally used some black hat techniques in the beginning of their career thinking they were doing something helpful to the page. The more you learn there is a right way and a wrong way to do just about anything. (more…)